The Kansas-Nebraska Act (1854)
1) In an effort to save their
divided party, the Whigs
nominated General
Winfield Scott as their
candidate in the election
of 1852. The sectional
divide within the Whigs
was irreparable in the
wake of the Compromise
of 1850 and the
controversial Fugitive
Slave Law.
The Kansas-Nebraska Act (1854)
2) The Democrats nominated the
obscure Franklin Pierce of New
Hampshire in the hopes of
preventing a similar political
divide. Pierce’s northern roots
and his support of southern
slavery and the Compromise of
1850 appeased the sectional
factions within the Democratic
Party. The solidarity of the
Democrats helped give Pierce a
landslide victory over Winfield
Scott and the divided Whigs.
The Kansas-Nebraska Act (1854)
Millard Fillmore
Zachary Taylor
Franklin Pierce
3) Similar to the Taylor and Fillmore administrations, Franklin
Pierce provided little leadership on critical national
issues like slavery, sectionalism, and states’ rights.
Pierce’s foolish support of the Kansas-Nebraska Act
caused the repeal of the Missouri Compromise and the
explosion of sectional warfare in the West.
The Kansas-Nebraska Act (1854)
4) With a sectional battle over a transcontinental railroad
raging in Congress, Senator Stephen A. Douglas crafted
a delicate legislative scheme to open new western
territory to slavery in order to establish a northern
railroad through his home state of Illinois.
The Kansas-Nebraska Act (1854)
5) In exchange for the northern railroad, Douglass proposed
that the vast Nebraska Territory would be divided into
two separate territories – Kansas and Nebraska. Both
territories would decide slavery through the democratic
process of “popular sovereignty.” Many expansionist
southerners were excited by the possibility that slavery
could spread into western territories.
The Kansas-Nebraska Act (1854)
6) Most southerners assumed that Kansas would
likely vote to become a new slave state after
settlers from slaveholding Missouri crossed over
border. Nebraska’s border with free-soil Iowa
ensured that it would remain free despite the
prospect of “popular sovereignty.”
The Kansas-Nebraska Act (1854)
7) The Kansas-Nebraska Act dangerously reopened the freesoil debate concerning the western territories. The new
legislation not only disrupted the delicate peace
established by the Compromise of 1850, it also forced the
repeal of the Missouri Compromise of 1820 because both
Kansas and Nebraska were north of the 36*30’ line of
latitude.
The Kansas-Nebraska Act (1854)
9) Former northern Whigs, Free-Soilers, and
disillusioned northern Democrats formed the
Republican Party in protest of the KansasNebraska Act. With most Democratic support
coming from the South, the political parties
now represented purely sectional interests.
Bleeding Kansas (1855)
1) Many Southerners assumed that the Kansas territory
would be voted a slave state through the process of
“popular sovereignty.” To ensure the issue, Missouri
Senator David Rice Atchison personally led groups
of pro-slavery Missourians across the border to
settle Kansas. They soon established the towns of
Atchison, Shawnee Mission and Lecompton,
Kansas.
Bleeding Kansas (1855)
2) The pro-slavery settlers of Kansas were soon troubled by
the presence of free-soil pioneers from northern states
like Ohio, Iowa, and Illinois. Southerners feared that a
free-soil Kansas would threaten the future of slavery and
would prevent it from spreading to other western
territories. Violent skirmishes between pro-slavery and
free-soil settlers captured national attention and
intensified the race to establish rival settlements.
Bleeding Kansas (1855)
3) A pro-slavery South Carolinian
that led an armed force of
southern settlers to Kansas
wrote, “Kansas is….the
turning-point in the destinies
of slavery and abolitionism. If
the South triumphs,
abolitionism will be defeated
and shorn of its power for all
time….If the North secures
Kansas, the power of the
South in Congress will be
gradually diminished, and the
slave population will become
valueless. All depends on the
action of the present moment.”
Bleeding Kansas (1855)
5) Two thousands free soil settlers also moved into the
territory. Reverend Henry Ward Beecher generated funds
to purchase hundreds of new breech-loading Sharps
rifles for the free-state settlers. The rifles later became
known as “Beecher’s Bibles” because they were secretly
sent to Kansas in wooden crates labeled “bibles.”
Bleeding Kansas (1855)
9) Violent mobs of pro-slavery
“Border Ruffians” from
Missouri soon flooded the
polls in Kansas and cast
thousands of fraudulent
votes. Missourians cast
close to 80% of the 6,307
votes to elect a Kansas
state legislature in March
1855. Despite considerable
free-soil settlement, 39 of
the 40 representatives
elected to the state
legislature were proslavery.
Bleeding Kansas (1855)
10) The new government was established at
Shawnee Mission, a proslavery settlement near
the Missouri border. The new state legislature
soon passed a number of strict laws aimed at
suppressing abolitionism. Anti-slavery societies
were banned and it became a felony to even
speak out publicly against slavery.
Bleeding Kansas (1855)
13) Violent outbreaks between pro-slavery and free-state
settlers steadily escalated in Kansas through the fall
of 1855. The mounting battle in Kansas convinced
John Brown to delay the raid on Harpers Ferry in
favor of joining his sons in Kansas.
The Sack of Lawrence
4) In April 1856, pro-slavery
Sheriff Samuel Jones
was shot after he
issued several bogus
arrest warrants against
free-state leaders in
Lawrence, Kansas.
Although Jones was
only wounded, the proslavery press spread
news of his murder and
encouraged an attack
on Lawrence, the freestate capital.
The Sack of Lawrence
5) On May 21st, Senator David Atchison and Sheriff
Samuel Jones led pro-slavery forces on a violent
rampage known as the “Sack of Lawrence.”
Homes were looted, newspaper presses were
destroyed, and the free-state hotel was burned.
Bleeding Congress
1) While the fighting raged on in Kansas, Abolitionist Senator
Charles Sumner delivered an enraged speech in the
Senate chambers on the “Crime Against Kansas.” With
little concern for caution, he condemned the pro-slavery
settlers as the “hirelings picked from the drunken spew
and vomit of an uneasy civilization.”
Bleeding Congress
2) Sumner’s assault on slavery included several personal
attacks against supporters of the Kansas-Nebraska Act
like Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois and Andrew Butler of
South Carolina. Sumner railed against Douglas as a
"noisome, squat, and nameless animal...not a proper
model for an American senator." Sumner accused Butler
of senility and even ridiculed the elderly Senator’s
slurred speech and physical impairments that were the
result of a stroke.
Bleeding Congress
3) Two days passed and
Butler’s nephew Preston
Brooks, a Congressman
from South Carolina,
quietly entered the
Senate chambers,
approached Sumner’s
desk, and viciously beat
him with a cane. Sumner
suffered severe trauma to
the head and his injuries
prevented him from
resuming his Senate seat
for over three years.
Bleeding Congress
5) On May 22nd, the day after
the Sack of Lawrence,
news of Sumner’s beating
reached John Brown and
his men. Jason Brown
recalled the reaction in
camp, “At that blow the
men went crazy – crazy. It
seemed to be the finishing,
decisive touch.” John
Brown declared, “It was
time to fight fire with fire”
to “strike terror in the
hearts of the pro-slavery
people.”
John Brown and Bleeding Kansas
Pottawatomie Creek Massacre
1) Late on May 24th, John
Brown led two followers and
four of his own sons
(Frederick, Salmon, Oliver,
and Owen) to brutally kill
five pro-slavery settlers
living on Pottawatomie
Creek. Brown’s victims
were taken from their homes
and were hacked to death
with broad swords wielded
by his sons and followers.
Brown claimed that he
supervised the killings, but
he fired a bullet in a severely
wounded victim to ensure
his death.
Pottawatomie Creek Massacre
4) The Pottawatomie Creek massacre led to an
eruption of violence on both sides in Kansas.
Anarchy reigned in Kansas as several bloody
skirmishes flared throughout the territory. A
newspaper editor described a “reign of terror”
with “almost daily murders.”
Pottawatomie Creek Massacre
5) Pottawatomie Creek was particularly shocking to
southerners because they were accustomed to
weak-kneed abolitionists and free-soil settlers
that shunned violence. John Brown represented
a new militant form of abolitionism that was
willing to bring war against slavery.
John Brown’s Raid
3) The legend of John Brown
steadily grew from his
involvement in Kansas
following the murders on
Pottawatomie Creek. Brown
earned national attention
when he led 38 free-state men
to defend the free-state town
of Osawatomie against an
attack from over 300
Missourians. Brown’s brave
actions earned him a national
reputation as the “militant
abolitionist” that would fight
pro-slavery forces.
John Brown’s Raid
4) Following the Battle of
Osawatomie, John Brown
Jr. wrote to his father,
“The Battle of
Osawatomie…has proved
most unmistakably that
“Yankees” WILL “fight.”
Everyone I hear speaking
of you is loud in your
praise. The Missourians
in this region show signs
of great fear.”
Planning Harpers Ferry
3) In order to stage his fight, Brown chose Harpers Ferry
because it was situated within the protective shield of the
Appalachian Mountains. The small town was also home
to a federal arsenal and a commercial rifle factory.
Brown believed that when his men occupied the town,
the surrounding slaves would rise up and join his forces
at the armory.
Planning Harpers Ferry
1) While on his fundraising tour through New
England, Brown used his donations to order the
construction of one thousand pikes (a double
edged Bowie knife attached to a six-foot pole) for
his anti-slavery crusade.
Harpers Ferry
As the raid proved to be futile against the oncoming federal
troops, John Brown looked for no surrender. He would
have been killed within the federal armory at the town had
it not been for the General catching his belt buckle on a
sword thrust and then be having to beat him with the blunt
of the sword.
The Trial
..
1) Despite Brown’s defiance
and his objection to a trial,
the Charlestown court
appointed him two local
attorneys for his defense.
They tried to argue that
Brown was not guilty for
reasons of insanity and they
presented evidence that
many of Brown’s relatives
were mentally deranged.
Brown strongly objected, “If
I am insane, of course, I
should think I know more than
all the rest of the world. But I
do not think so.
The Trial
2) The jury only took forty-five minutes to find Brown
guilty on all three counts. Brown was given an
opportunity to address the court the following day
when it reconvened for his sentencing. His
address was heavily covered in the press and it
generated northern sympathy for the
righteousness of his cause years later.
Southern Reactions
1) Shortly after John Brown’s capture in the fire-engine
house, J.E.B. Stuart led a detachment of Marines to
Kennedy farm in Maryland and seized a trunk of
incriminating documents. Brown’s provisional
constitution and his detailed maps revealed that his raid
on Harpers Ferry would have been followed by an
invasion deep into the slaveholding South. Southerners
were horrified by the discovery of hundreds of pistols,
rifles, knives, and pikes that would have been employed
in such an insurrection.
Southern Reactions
2) The discovery of Brown’s letters revealed the identities
of his northern supporters. Letters from the “Secret
Six” were reprinted in national newspapers and Brown’s
associations with notable abolitionists like Frederick
Douglass sent a wave of paranoia throughout the South.
Brown no longer seemed like a delusional fanatic and
Southerners became convinced that the Harpers Ferry
Raid was the product of a massive conspiracy among
powerful Northern politicians.
Southern Reactions
7) Southern paranoia led
several states to
reorganize their militias in
order to defend against
the next invasion from the
North. This military
response in the South laid
the foundation for the
Confederate Army that
was organized after
several southern states
seceded from the Union in
1860-61.
Execution
11) John Brown only last words were scribbled in a
short prophetic note that he handed to a guard
outside his jail cell. It read, “I John Brown am now
quite certain that the crimes of this guilty land: will
never be purged away; but with Blood. I had as I now
think; vainly flattered myself that without verry much
bloodshed ; it might be done.” Brown correctly
predicted that the emancipation of slavery would
not occur without war.
`